Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 Gaining New 'Double Tap' Gesture Control Feature

[Johnny907]

As I've been heavily using the "clench fist" and "index+thumb" double tap gesture control via Accessibility on my Watch since last November, I was legitimately questioning my memory and critical thinking skills watching this.

Literally every single thing they used gesture controls to do is something I've been doing almost every day since I got my Watch almost a year ago.

Obviously, the UI doesn't look the same because I'm on WatchOS 9 and they're on 10.

But what am I missing, is there anything different to it or are they just pulling a feature out of Accessibility and presenting as a new feature?

I cannot spot what has changed.

Is it just supposed to be more accurate?

Yes, it's a minor thing. But this might be the weirdest thing I've seen from Apple in recent memory. I'm at a loss.

More importantly though, are they saying it's only available for Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2? So it goes away for Series 8, Ultra 1 and older if we upgrade to WatchOS 10???

It works the same on WatchOS 10. I've been running it since Dev Beta 2 on my daily driver and it works exactly as shown in that promo. Yeah interface is a little tweaked from 9 but functionally it behaves the same.

 

[mannyvel]

I had no idea this existed until today. And I've had an AW since series 1.

siri is a POS for me, i never use it. 90% of the time it's "try again." If i wanted to talk to an assistant that didn't work i'd talk to my dog.

 

[BayouCritter]

This to me was the biggest announcement. It's a great concept. But otherwise the thing that impressed me most was how Apple was able to draw out three minor updates to an hour-and-a-half presentation. The other announcement that got my attention was the new iCloud storage options. I'm curious as to how much they're going to cost.

(I just checked and noticed they've upped the price of the previous storage options, but haven't yet posted the new tiers.)

kinda like cereal... "you get less cereal, for more money..."

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

They already brought it "front and center," hell they made a video explaining how to use it and how useful it is.
Then they just sort of forgot about it.
Now they are bringing it up again in a misleading way to promote an otherwise unremarkable updated Series 9, giving users the impression you have to upgrade to get that functionality. It's cheap and it's unethical.

Man. I am not moving up to watchOS 10 if they remove gesture controls from Accessibility on S8 and older.

I can live with watchOS 9 for a year or two more.

 

[DrewTM]

If they are promoting this as a feature for S9 and U2, then it will be getting removed from the previous watches and users that already had it. Or at the very least they will limit its integration.

Not the first time they have done this.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

It works the same on WatchOS 10. I've been running it since Dev Beta 2 on my daily driver and it works exactly as shown in that promo. Yeah interface is a little tweaked from 9 but functionally it behaves the same.

So you're saying all Watch models running watchOS 10 get the new version of gestures, "Double Tap gesture"s?

 

[t0rqx]

So you need a S9 chip and few neural engines to power a fingertrick, which was kind of already there?

Also on a S6 the animations are buttersmooth. The keynote presenter implied the S9 will make the WatchOS10 animations even smoother. Basically all watches older then S9 will be artifically crippled. To force upgrades cause they know the S9 sx.

 

[twistedpixel8]

I had no idea this existed until today. And I've had an AW since series 1.

siri is a POS for me, i never use it. 90% of the time it's "try again." If i wanted to talk to an assistant that didn't work i'd talk to my dog.

My dog is more useful than Siri. Smarter too.

 

[tivoboy]

So you need a S9 chip and few neural engines to power a fingertrick, which was kind of already there?

Also on a S6 the animations are buttersmooth. The keynote presenter implied the S9 will make the WatchOS10 animations even smoother. Basically all watches older then S9 will be artifically crippled. To force upgrades cause they know the S9 sx.

Honestly, the S9 chip probably IS better at making the new wOS 10 STACK scroll more smoothly, that thing is a PIG.. like the prior SIRI watch face, it was laggy. Granted, it’s pulling a lot more dynamic content from various disparate sources, but still. Don’t make it the DEFAULT face.

 

[StuBeck]

This is it?!! I mean this and a new processor essentially.

Not worth the upgrade at all.

So disappointed that Apple haven’t done what Withings have done with their body temperature advancements to measure performance during and after workouts.

I don't know how this is new, my S6 has something similar. Maybe this one just works better?

 

[Force332]

I haven't really seen this mentioned but it looks like Double Tap won't work out of the box when it ships. The website says available in October. Presumably this will be part of watchOS 10.1.

 

[cutcopypaste]

I’m now mainly worried that when I upgrade to the new WatchOs I’ll lose the ability to double tap that I’ve been using every day since I got my watch. What the fffff

 

[powerbook911]

Does this work for Apple Pay? Haven't had a watch since gen 1, and that would be handy.

 

[svish]

Should be a really useful feature

 

[djlythium]

So you're saying all Watch models running watchOS 10 get the new version of gestures, "Double Tap gesture"s?

I’m also running an Ultra w watchOS 10 beta, and it’s there in Accessibility. Given the demo today, I opened up settings to try it out. Seems useful, I’ll have to mess around with it. Looks like, with the S9 and U2, they’re giving it a dedicated contextual UI, which I don’t have now.

 

[djlythium]

I’m now mainly worried that when I upgrade to the new WatchOs I’ll lose the ability to double tap that I’ve been using every day since I got my watch. What the fffff

It’s in the beta now on my ultra. I doubt they’re removing it from older devices because they’d be removing an Accessibility feature.

 

[DrewTM]

It’s in the beta now on my ultra. I doubt they’re removing it from older devices because they’d be removing an Accessibility feature.

They don’t remove the feature in the betas, they remove this in the full release or they would be signposting it going.

This happened with the red watch face for the ultra.

My S7 had a red face for night, post the S8/U1 being launched it was gone. I upgraded to U1, and my partner took my S7. On the new OS they were now unable to have a completely red face.

Tried sharing the face from an S6 on previous OS, when opened on the updated S7 it was white.

Apple has previous for taking an existing features away to make it a USP for a new model.

To suggest that you need an updated neural engine and faster processor for something that works today on an S4 is just Apple being Apple.

 

[cutcopypaste]

It’s in the beta now on my ultra. I doubt they’re removing it from older devices because they’d be removing an Accessibility feature.

I doubt it too. It would be utterly bizarre to do that. But it’s also bizarre announcing a feature that already exists as new haha.

( Tho I guess this is somewhat like the new webpage readaloud feature on iPhone that existed already in accessibility. )

 

[tivoboy]

I’m now mainly worried that when I upgrade to the new WatchOs I’ll lose the ability to double tap that I’ve been using every day since I got my watch. What the fffff

They won’t do this, for however many ppl are actually currently USING these gesture based features with their CURRENT Apple Watches, apple isn’t going to depreciate that and cripple (no pun intended) that feature for that audience.

 

[mannyvel]

Does this work for Apple Pay? Haven't had a watch since gen 1, and that would be handy.

Yes, you can set:

• pinch
• double pinch
• clench
• double clench

Options:

• Forwards
• Backwards
• Tap
• Action Menu
• Press Crown
• Turn Up
• Turn Down
• Dynamic
• Notification Center
• Control Center
• Dock
• Show Apps
• Return to Last App
• Apple Pay
• Siri
• Control Nearby Devices
• Hold Side Button
• Sleep Display
• Motion Pointer
• Tap & Hold
• Gesture Mode
• Autoscroll
  • Digital Crown
  • Vertical
  • Horizontal
  • Scroll to bottom
  • Scroll to top
• Run a Shortcut

 

[johannnn]

Does anyone have an idea what sportloop is in the article image? Looks really good.